Here comes the Ubuntu Quantal Quetzal with VMware Tools. To say it upfront, the virtual Quetzal creeps like a snail. This image is not only clumsy, because of Ubuntu's Unity desktop, it is also terribly slow. See below for recommended alternatives.

We tried our best to tune it, and had some limited success, but sadly we must recommend you use the much swifter Ubuntu 12.04 LTS image with VM Tools. That one shines also with the long-term support of Ubuntu.

The most recommended choice is our Lubuntu 12.10 VMware image, which comes with the newest VMware Tools. It is lightning fast and has the user friendly LXDE desktop.

The Linux Mint 14 image with VMware Tools and the Cinnamon desktop is also a fine alternative that is based on Ubuntu.

Ubuntu dropped the 2d accelerated version of Unity and instead requires the CPU now to emulate a 3d graphics processor in case there is no hardware graphics acceleration. This turns out to be a show stopper, literally, on virtualized systems. If you want to use the Ubuntu 12.10 instead of the 12.04, be sure to maximize the number of processors in the VM settings, so that it matches your hardware reality and gains at least a little performance.

Another draw back of the new Quetzal, perhaps the canonical Quantal leap, is the integration of an Amazon shopping center directly into the search function of the Dash. Thank you! I always wanted to buy some products from big A while starting my editor...

The most interesting alternative to the standard Ubuntu image is the Lubuntu image, which includes also the newest VM Tools. Basically the LXDE version seems to be the fastest of all Ubuntu flavors. For the 12.10 era the difference to the standard has become like night and day for virtualized systems. So, at least we recommend to check out the Lubuntu image.

For VMware lovers who like Linux Mint, which is a descendant of Ubuntu, we have also the Mint 14 image available. It comes with the very pleasing Cinnamon desktop that is a fork of Gnome 3 and offers a simple and clean usability. The Mint image has also the VMware Tools installed and uses the large repositories from Ubuntu.